Page 99 of Undone

I didn’t sleep. Instead, I stayed up all night staring into the fire until it burned out and wondering if my soul was now as black as the soot it left behind. I checked my phone dozens of times, but Luce never called me back.

Why would she?

I slaughtered half a dozen men from the Felons with Cortez in cold-blood while they were balls deep in whores at a brothel.

Killing is part of the MC life. What isn’t sitting right with me, is how much I’ve changed since becoming the Prez. I barley remember the man I was last summer, but all I still see, is her.

She was flowers, sunshine, and music.

Her laugh and soft hands soothed me.

If she thought I was a beast before—she’ll think I’m a demon now. Maybe I’m, the Prez and the Reaper. Seeing Dare last night had me thinking; if I could grab Luce and get away from this life, setting up somewhere else, would I do it?

The answer was in a nanosecond.

But a real man doesn’t run from his problems.

He fixes them.

More bloodshed is coming, I feel it in my bones.

If Luce wants to move back to Chicago someday and get a fancy job as an art curator, I shouldn’t put obstacles in her path.

But I’d rather die, than see her in Roque’s arms.

Being with him is much more dangerous than dating me. Roque’s mob is international. I just run a small piece of woods and highway compared to the empire he controls.

I told Dare before he left to keep an eye on Roque’s movements. Although, Roque is going to help Creed by moving to take out the Vega Cartel—I want to make sure he’s not gonna make more of a move on Luce.

I swipe a hand across my eyes full of grit and stand from the chair I spent the night in. My legs are stiff; everything hurts.

“Cortez! You got any coffee in this place?”

“No. But my men will be here soon with a van. We can’t be caught on any street cameras. The ‘eyes in the sky’ are everywhere. We’ll load our bikes in the back and lay low. If we are caught riding together after we took out those men last night—”

“Good thinking.”

“They’re bringing coffee and food. We need to get out of hell out of here and back to our own clubhouses.”

“I know.”

“We need new cuts, too. My men aren’t gonna like what we did. It puts them all at more risk.”

“We did what we had to,sí?”

I nod and walk into the bathroom to take a leak. The eyes that stare back at me in the mirror are cold and deadly.

The man who Luce loved, is gone.

I’m a killer.

A true Reaper King.

But if anyone can dig, deep and pull the man I was back from the abyss; it’d be my angel. I’m still gonna fight for that day, otherwise all I did—all I took, all I sacrificed—would be for nothing.

---